


One More Time

by goodluck2you



Category: Beautiful Mind, 뷰티풀마인드
Genre: F/M, Kdrama, WifiCouple
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-05
Updated: 2016-08-05
Packaged: 2018-07-29 19:06:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7695832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goodluck2you/pseuds/goodluck2you
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been a few weeks since Jinsung and Young Oh's transplant surgery. Both are well recovered and adjusting to their new lives while finding every chance possible to meet each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One More Time

The roads of Seoul offered an array of sounds. Cars sped along honking their way through the sea of traffic. Pedestrians strolled by with heavy footsteps after a long day of work. Students chattered endlessly as they enjoyed a late night escapade from home. Yet, the dark that enveloped the atmosphere with the scattered lights of stars in the sky, brought an eerie calm. On their own the bustling noises all sung a different song but when put together they became a harmonious chorus.

Jinsung smiled faintly as she took in everything around her. A slight breeze played with her hair and tossed it aside revealing her small features. Her smile turned wider when she caught sight of the lone figure making his way through the throngs of people.

She waved energetically at him to catch his attention.

"Lee Young Oh-sshi," she said letting out a small grin."You're late."

Young Oh took a seat opposite Jinsung in the pojangmacha. His own face created a smile at the sound of Jinsung calling him by his name. _His_ name. Not 'Doctor Lee.' "The surgery took longer than expected."

"Ahh," Jinsung nodded her head in embarrassment for calling out his tardiness. "How did the surgery go?"

A smirk came across Young Oh's face as he motioned at himself with his hand. "I was the operating surgeon, of course it went well."

Jinsung scoffed. "Of course," she said sarcastically, "the grand doctor Lee." She turned her attention to the lady setting her order of food on the table while she fumed. For someone who claimed lack of emotions he sure had a big ego.

"Here's your soju…two glasses," the server said while Jinsung bowed her head in gratitude.

"Wah it looks delicious. Young Oh-sshi, eat up," she instructed as she placed some chopsticks in front of him before diverting her attention to the steaming tteokbokki on the table.

"What's that?"

Jinsung looked up quizzically at him with a chopstick in mid air. "Eh?"

Young Oh pointed at the soju bottle. "You don't plan on drinking, right?"

"Ah that." Jinsung placed her chopstick down and reached for the bottle. "Then what am I supposed to do with it?" she asked playfully.

"Can you drink alcohol? I don't think you should." He paused examining her confused expression. "I don't plan on donating a liver for you too, you know. Just take it back. I won't drink it in your behalf either."

Jinsung scanned her surroundings. "Ya! People will hear you and think I'm an alcoholic. It'll only be one bottle." She twisted the cap off as she looked up at Young Oh, her face lighting up at his sight. "You of all people know one bottle of soju will not harm my liver."

Throwing him one last playful look she continued. "Besides, tonight is special."

She hesitated as her eyes fell on the bottle again. "This bottle of soju is special…and you have to drink it with me."

"Special?" A small smile crept on Young Oh's mouth. He knew what was coming. The woman in front of him was about to talk in that confusing language that dumbfounded him and yet fascinated him to indescribable levels. "What's so special about this glass bottle full of alcohol that will do nothing but dull your senses?"

"Um," Jinsung gave herself a few seconds to organize her thoughts. The street noises flooded their conversation but Young Oh's fascination at what she would say muted out everything around them in an instant.

She finally looked up and saw Young Oh staring at her with that childlike curiosity and perhaps a hint of the cynicism that was still part of him.

Her voice was gentle and nostalgic as she started to speak. "That night…the night Professor Shin passed away. I had been drinking with him. Actually, that was the last time I had a drink." She paused while her head replayed their conversation that night.

"I was angry at him. Frustrated. Disappointed. How could the person whom I had looked up to all my life turn a blind eye to the crimes at Hyunsung? How was he so comfortably having a drink after all that?"

Young Oh leaned forward on the table and met Jinsung's eyes as he predicted the next development in her story. "So, you let out your anger on him, right?"

Jinsung nodded her head. "I did. He wanted to keep drinking but I felt so overwhelmed that I just left him there." Her voice broke a little. "But that wasn't the last time he told me something."

Fighting back her tears she put the soju cap aside and rummaged through her bag to find her phone. Her fingers flew across the bright screen as she found the message she was looking for.

"He sent that message," she explained as she handed the phone to Young Oh. "After I left him he sent that." Jinsung looked down at her fidgeting hands. This was the first time she was truly opening up to someone regarding Professor Shin's death. "I didn't respond though."

Young Oh took hold of the phone and read the words on the screen.

> _Jinsung. I'm sorry. I hope it's not too late to tell you that you can trust people in this world. Can you give me a chance to prove it to you? When I'm done, shall we have a drink together again?_

He took a deep breath, his eyes solely focused on the black letters on the screen, as if he could make out their significance with a penetrating stare.

Finally he met Jinsung's eyes. The playfulness that had flooded them earlier was gone. Instinctively he would have retorted out his next question with no regards to the other person's feelings. But Jinsung wasn't any other person, so he worded and delivered his question with as much ease as he could.

"So do you trust in this world now?" He motioned at the soju bottle with his head. "Is this why you're drinking tonight?"

Jinsung gave a slight nod. "Yes. Remember our second bet? I told you then I wanted to win so I could enjoy a drink again. For Professor Shin's sake…and for you and I. I wanted to prove that the world was worth giving another chance."

Young Oh nodded his head remembering their conversation.

"But…" Young Oh paused, unsure if he should voice the words floating in his head. _But you lost the bet._

As if reading his mind, Jinsung smiled and finished his sentence. "But I didn't win the bet. That's what you're thinking, right?"

"I've done a lot of thinking recently," she continued. "To be honest, I've questioned myself and the way I see the world a lot ever since I met you. Was I living in a fantasy? Young Oh-sshi, you taught me a lot too."

Jinsung saw a change in Young Oh's features as the words flowed out of her mouth. There it was. There was always that split second when she could see right through him. Other people seemed oblivious to it but Jinsung always noted it. Even if Young Oh repeatedly made note of his lack of emotions, she knew it wasn't so. She could see his suppressed emotions trying to break out. Just like now.

"The same day we made that bet you told me the world doesn't care for the truth; that the truth will remain hidden."

"Is it not so then? You think I'm mistaken?" he asked cautiously as he tried to regain his composure after Jinsung's words. Words that crawled into the crevices in his heart and tugged at emotions he never thought he'd feel. She learned from him? Was he capable of being a good influence on someone? Was he really?

Jinsung shook her head. "No, perhaps I didn't want to admit it then but what you said is true." She leaned forward resting her elbows on the table, closing in the distance between herself and Young Oh even more. "But do you want to know something?" she whispered. "The people hiding the truth are working so hard to bury it because there are others who will try to uncover it. I want to be that type of person."

Her eyes penetrated into his own. She was challenging him to refute her words. She was taunting him for an answer.

He broke the enchantment by looking down and taking hold of the bottle. He served himself a shot of the clear liquid but hesitated to serve it to Jinsung.

"But…Jinsung-ah, what if the world disappoints you again?" He held up his soju glass with his free hand. "I can say I trust this world and not feel utterly disappointed when it stabs me in the back. But you…you might feel your world break down again. Just like last time."

"True," Jinsung leaned back and sat up straight in her chair. "But I'll get up and trust again. One more time."

Taking hold of the soju cap again she bent the plastic so it would resemble a ring, as she continued her monologue. "And if the world fails me again…" she twirled the cap around her finger, "I'll trust again. One more time."

As she spoke the last word she clasped the cap in her hand disrupting its circular revolution. She shifted forward again and reached out her left hand at Young Oh. He raised his eyebrows in confusion.

"Your hand," she instructed. She stretched across the table and pulled his hand towards her. She felt his warmth come into contact with her skin and an immediate sense of comfort enveloped her. Keeping hold of his hand she relinquished hold of the cap in her other hand and carefully placed it in his palm.

Young Oh stared, perplexed at everything Jinsung was saying and doing. She had taken pause but he knew she wasn't done speaking. If Jinsung was able to decipher Young Oh, so could he with Jinsung. Perhaps not to perfection but he had spent enough time with her already to know when she was lost in thought. When she was tying up her thoughts in her head so that she could make sense to him. Something no one had ever done before for him. Something Jinsung had done for him even in his darkest hour. This was what had made him slowly feel an attraction to Jinsung. Her beautiful spirit. He felt Jinsung's slim fingers wrap his own over the soju cap and then give a slight grip to his closed hand.

She slightly caressed his hand with her fingers while directing her gaze back at him. Her eyes showering him with tenderness. But there was also a hint of plead in them as she resumed her speech.

"But, you have to promise to stay beside me. When everyone else betrays me, when the world betrays me, please stay by my side. You don't have to do anything. You don't have to say anything to comfort me. Just stay beside me." She stretched out her other hand and used both to squeeze his own.

"You _have_ to. Because you're my biggest hope. I can give the world a million more chances because of you, Young Oh-ah."

Young Oh felt the small weight of her hands. He saw her fair features. Her pretty small eyes. Her wispy thin hair that brushed across her forehead. Her vulnerability at that moment. Could it really be possible? Could someone really need him in their life? He knew what Jinsung meant for him. He needed her. But this was the first time she had requested the same of him.

Jinsung squeezed his hand tighter and let out a nervous laugh.

"Uh..um.." she mumbled. "Why aren't you saying anything?" He remained silent.

Jinsung released his hand and nervously brushed her hair away from her face. Scrunching her forehead a bit in confusion she spoke up.

"Lee Young Oh..how can you just sit there. Do you know how hard it was to say all of that? I…I just confessed to you what you mean for me." She let out a frustrated sigh and then she remembered she was mirroring his own reaction when he had first confessed his feelings to her. She was doing it again. She was embarrassing herself. Her face blushed as she bent her head down to avoid Young Oh. One more second of silence from him and she would have made up an excuse to get up. But right as the thought crossed her mind, he took a deep breath and began to speak.

"To be honest, I don't entirely understand everything you just said."

Jinsung lifted her head to look at him. He didn't continue speaking until he was sure she was facing him.

"Trusting the world over and over again…all of that doesn't quite make sense to me. When I hear you speak, in that moment, right in that moment, everything seems to make sense. But then my mind tells me it's not reasonable." Grabbing the soju bottle he continued. "But I want to understand and I know you're the only one who can help me understand. Yes, I also want to stay by your side, but not just because I need you, also for your sake, Gye Jinsung. Knowing I am a source of comfort and safety for someone," he shook his head as he spoke, "is something I never imagined possible in my life."

Jinsung felt droplets of water cloud her vision as she struggled to fight back tears for the second time that night. Her eyes swallowed up every detail on Young Oh's face. His every movement. His every word. He was always so honest with her. Yet, he tried to have an open mind to all her idealistic beliefs, even when she knew they baffled him. And if the moment called for it, he would keep her grounded to reality. He was the person she never knew she needed.

The clinking of glass broke her trance. Young Oh had filled the second glass with soju and slid it across the table until it was directly in front of her.

"So, Jinsung-ah, fine. Let's share this drink tonight." He picked up his glass and waited for Jinsung to mimic his action. Her eyes immediately lit up as she raised her glass to match his.

"Perhaps I don't have as much trust in the world as you do. I don't trust everyone as you do. But the person sitting in front of me right now, you, Jinsung, I trust you."

Jinsung watched as he gave the clear liquid one more glance and then drank it all up in one go. Putting the glass down he grimaced at the strong alcohol, making Jinsung laugh.

With a stray laugh still in her throat she reciprocated Young Oh's words. "I do too. I trust, you, Lee Young Oh." She felt the surge of bitterness flow down her throat as she tipped the glass's contents into her mouth. It's taste forced her to squeeze her eyes shut as she became acquainted with the strong alcohol again. When she opened them Young Oh was examining the soju cap he still had in his hand.

Looking up at her he directed her attention to the cap. "This?"

Jinsung grinned. "It's my first gift for you. You gave me your lung…I'll give you this."

"You think this is worth as much as my lung?"

She nodded her head energetically. "Yes." Playfully furrowing her eyebrows she instructed him to keep it safe. "You can't lose it, okay? You have to keep it and treasure it as if it were gold. Okay?"

He left her plead like a puppy for a few more seconds before letting out an exaggerated sigh and agreeing to her request. Giving him a sincere 'thank you' Jinsung clasped her hands together.

"Shall we eat now?"

"Another order of tteokbokki here."

Jinsung shot up her head and saw Young Oh raising his arm while making his order. "But we have this plate," she retorted.

"That's cold. How can you eat it cold?" Young Oh answered back while pushing around the rice cakes on the plate.

"Hm…right?" A bite out of the cold rice cake was enough to make Jinsung change her mind entirely. Putting down her chopsticks she looked seriously at Young Oh.

"But, you're paying that. I'm paying the soju and the first plate." She pushed the cold dish aside and spread open a napkin over her lap. "You can afford that, right Doctor?" Although she was looking down Young Oh could see the playful glint in her eyes. Jinsung looked up and caught Young Oh trying to stifle a laugh until he finally let it loose. Soon their own awkward laughter joined the chorus of sounds the night provided. The laughter of two people who had crossed each other's paths and unknowingly slowly changed each other.

To any passerby they were just two individuals sharing a late night drink. But they were much more than that. Perhaps they weren't like other couples. But that didn't matter. Because right then all that mattered for them was the opportunity they were having.

Time. Time to spend together

**Author's Note:**

> So I LOVE my adorable wifi couple. I know my writing is lacking compared to how amazing the dialogues were in the drama but I couldn't help writing this. Anything to heal my withdrawal. Hope you enjoyed reading it!
> 
> I may or may not write more scenerios. It all depends on how much time I have (haha no pun intended).


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